Welcome to Bimmerfest -- The #1 Online Community for BMW related information! Please enjoy the discussion forums below and share your experiences with the 200,000 current, new and past BMW owners. The forums are broken out by car model and into other special interest sections such as BMW European Delivery and a special forum to voice your questions to the many BMW dealers on the site to assist our members!

E39 (1997 - 2003) The BMW 5-Series (E39 chassis) was introduced in the United States as a 1997 model year car and lasted until the 2004 when the E60 chassis was released. The United States saw several variations including the 525i, 528i, 530i and 540i. -- View the E39 Wiki

Hi everyone - just picked up a 2000 BMW 540i Sport and wanted start modding it out to increase HP and mileage - can some of you share first hand knowledge about which aftermarket upgrades you have used and have done well or not so well? Anything u can suggest from fuel filters to chips and exhaust etc would be welcome advice...
Thanks!!

Save your money for repairs. There isn't much that can be done to gain a lot of performance w/o spending a large sum. CAI will do nothing but increase the chance of hydro lock destroying the engine. If you really want a faster car, it's either supercharge or trade up to an M5.

Like chief said, take some time to read about the 540's "routine" maintenance. Read this link from the "wiki" about the common issues with E39's, and get an idea of the budget you'll need for the next year to keep it running before you blow your wad on mods.

- Which is better, stock or aftermarket cold air intake (1) (2) & a home-made CAI (1) & the general consensus on the effectiveness of an aftermarket CAI versus the stock BMW CAI (1) (2) (3) (4) and of the K&N oiled air filter over the stock air filter (1) & how to reduce the risk of hydro lock (1) (2).

Keep the original air box. It sucks better, stops sh1t going into your motor and minimizes the chance of sucking up liquids into a place it that doesn't agree with it
the only good note on an aftermarket "pod"/cai is the sound you get. That's all

The problem with the M62tu is the intake gaskets leak and the cooling system does not last as long as it should.
Buy yourself a new water pump, all cooling hoses, expansion tank & have the radiator flushed. Then replace the expansion tank and the hoses every 60K after that. As long as you don't overheat it, you can get 300K miles out of it.

As for the performance options: A good CAI does not have a under hood filter... It must have the filter positioned under the headlights. This makes it easier to suck up water if your not careful. but you get a true "Cold Air Charge".

A CAI, free flow exhaust, throttle body & chip are ingredients for better performance. without all of them together you wont see much gain.

Wow. Thanks Joe. Since your response has additional information, I added a link to here for the bestlinks so that the next person gets your information within five seconds of starting their search.

thanks,
Bluebee

- Which is better, stock or aftermarket cold air intake (1) (2) & a home-made CAI (1) & the general consensus on the effectiveness of an aftermarket CAI versus the stock BMW CAI (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) and of the K&N oiled air filter over the stock air filter (1) & how to reduce the risk of hydro lock (1) (2).